It was a routine media session with Bud Black when he was suddenly asked to speak on his least favorite topic.

Bud Black.

“You want me to talk about myself?” the Padres manager asked. “I don’t like to do that.”

No, he certainly does not. The seventh-year skipper can rattle off baseball stories like Jim Bouton. He can segue seamlessly into classic rock and assist Kyle Blanks with a crossword clue without breaking stride.

But try to make him the subject of his own conversation and you’ll be lucky if he cracks the 10-syllable mark. The reason? Simple. He’d rather talk about you.

Black has won 47.6 percent of the games he’s managed for the Padres despite the talent pool running bathtub deep. He has watched this year’s team win 10 of its last 13 after equaling the worst 20-game start in franchise history.

How much influence a manager has on his ballclub’s success is certainly debatable. But talk to the guys playing for Black, and it’s clear which way they’d argue.

“I feel like I am very fortunate and very lucky that he’s the only manager I’ve ever had at the big league level,” Blanks said of Black. “He never makes it feel like the world is ending. As much failure as there is in baseball, it can seem like tomorrow is the apocalypse. But he always finds a way to bring it back.”

In baseball, bad games are like rabbits. They multiply in a hurry. An 0-for-4 on Monday can become an 0-for-20 by the weekend, and before you know it, your confidence may as well be on a milk carton. But Black never seems to be the manager players are scared to disappoint. Instead, he is the catalyst for them finding what was missing.

Catcher Nick Hundley remembers the first game he ever played for the Padres. It was on the Fourth of July in front of a packed stadium in Arizona, but he would have been sweating just the same if it were January in Detroit.

Then, Black calmed his nerves with 10 words that have stayed with him for five years: “All I need from you is three hours of focus.”

Hundley said that was all he needed to hear (fortunately, the game didn’t go 15 innings), and teammates have recalled similar moments of counsel.

Fellow catcher John Baker, for instance, wasn’t getting much playing time last year, and was called into Black’s office one day. Bud asked him how many games he’d played so far that season, Baker answered “three,” to which Black responded “I see that you’re working hard. You’ll get your chance. Just keep working.”

Baker eventually did get that opportunity – finishing the year having played 63 games – and credited Black’s words for jumpstarting his offense.

“It wasn’t anything physical, it wasn’t hitting advice or anything,” said Baker whose Padres beat the Marlins 5-1 Tuesday. “But it was just what I needed.”

It’s not that Black is the only manager in the big leagues who passes on encouragement, but he does seem to be allergic to negativity at times. Remember that scene in “Moneyball” where Brad Pitt chucks the Gatorade bucket across the clubhouse? That was definitely not a Bud moment reenacted.

Perhaps some think that he's too positive, that cracking a whip would be a lot more effective than cracking a smile. And in Black’s defense, he says he experiences more anger than he lets on – whether it’s directed at his players, his opponents, or most fervently – himself.

But whatever the case – just like last year’s midseason surge – something began working in San Diego right as the season seemed lost.

Don’t be afraid to talk about Black’s role in the recovery. Just don’t do it in front of him.